HJC – Book 12, Chapter 94.1

Looking at the weird old lady, Zhou Weiqing couldn’t help but walk up closer to her.

As every material was extremely valuable and expensive, they were all placed there with a transparent crystal cover protecting it. Buyers could only use their eyes to examine it, but not touch it, lest they damage or destroy it.

Yet, this strange old lady before him, the crystal cover over the stalk of grass had actually been moved to the side, and the stalk of grass was exposed to the air. She was even muttering and pointing at it, yet none of the employees seemed to come for her.

As he got closer, Zhou Weiqing could clearly hear what she was muttering about, as she seemed to speak directly to the little stalk of grass: “Little Bi’er, be good, hurry up and grow up, grow up, grandmother will find a good husband for you.”

Hearing her words, Zhou Weiqing almost laughed out loud, thinking to himself: This grandma, is she alright? Mental problems? But… if that’s the case, how could she possibly be in this Consolidating Equipment Pavilion?

That feeling of welling laughter only lasted for a few seconds. The next moment, his entire body shook, his eyes widening in shock as he stared at the old lady.

The reason for that sudden change was because Zhou Weiqing could clearly see what had just happened. The little stalk of grass that the old lady was in front of was a Nether Jade Grass, a valuable plant 1, and it was actually swaying along with the old lady’s voice! Zhou Weiqing could vaguely see that around the Nether Jade Grass was a faint warping of light around it. The most stunning thing was that the Nether Jade Grass was actually growing swiftly as it swayed along, at such a speed that could actually be seen by the naked eye!

She… Wha… How did she do that? Zhou Weiqing was totally shocked. He could not believe his eyes, that a human could actually control the growth of such plants.

Even a Heavenly Jewel Master with the Life Attribute should not be able to do something like that, as the Life Attribute could only allow them to borrow a plant’s Life Aura, at most using it to control or improve their Personal Plant. Yet, for this Nether Jade Grass to be sold here, how could it possibly be her Personal Plant? If that was so, how could she possibly do that? For a moment, besides being stunned, Zhou Weiqing was left curious.

Nether Jade Grass. A highly poisonous plant, but it also had another unique attribute. When ground into powder and mixed with some other materials, it would improve the miscibility, allowing items that would not mix together to do so. In creating those top quality Consolidating Ink, it was a rare and exceptional ingredient indeed. With it, the failure rate of creating Consolidating Ink dropped drastically, and the quality would also improve sharply.

Zhou Weiqing had seen a fully grown Nether Jade Grass earlier in the first level, and it was definitely one of the ‘must-buy’ materials that he had targeted in his plan.

Very quickly, he saw the difference between this stalk of Nether Jade Grass and the one he had see on the first level. As it grew swiftly before his eyes, a slender gold thread as thin as a bull’s fur slowly grew on its leaves.

The gold thread spread out across the entire leaf, almost covering it entirely, and its contrast with the original emerald green colour of the Nether Jade Grass was bright and fresh.

This … this is? Gold Fur Nether Jade Grass?! Once more, Zhou Weiqing’s heart was given a rude shock.

As compared to ordinary Nether Jade Grass, the Gold Fur Nether Jade Grass was considered cream of the crop, a treasure amongst all treasures. It was no longer just a mere material for Consolidating Ink, instead used to create the prime fusion agent that was required in creating Consolidating Equipment Sets. When any Scroll which was part of a Consolidating Equipment Set was completed, no matter what level or rank it was, it needed a form of fusion in order to link the pieces to form the set.

There were many types of fusion agents, and this Gold Fur Nether Jade Grass was one of the highest quality ones, and even Legendary Sets required them as well as some other valuable materials to create. Zhou Weiqing had not expected to see it here in the second level of the Consolidating Equipment Pavilion.

Just as Zhou Weiqing was lost in deep thought, all of a sudden, the old lady beside him shuddered, a soft exclamation crying out from her mouth. The slow and steady growth of the Gold Fur Nether Jade Grass suddenly rose sharply in a burst, and the gold thread on its surface grew erratically instead of the previous orderly patterns.

“‘Trying to help the shoots grow by pulling them upward’ 2 is truly not the way to go! Sigh… I overdid it…” The old lady said dejectedly.

Perhaps lady luck was smiling upon him, perhaps he had been focusing too hard on the Gold Fur Nether Jade Grass, when Zhou Weiqing saw its sudden burst of growth coupled with the draining of its life force, he almost subconsciously lifted his hand and waved towards the little plant, and without knowing why, he unleashed a quick Absolute Delay on it.

Almost instantly, the rapidly growing Gold Fur Nether Jade Grass paused for a moment, before resuming its growth at a much slower rate.

“Ehh?” The old lady, who had been ready to give up, cried out in sudden surprise, and she quickly gestured towards the little plant. Instantly, a gold light shone from the gold threads, and the previously scattered and messy threads realigned themselves neatly, with each leaf shining forth with a brilliant gold light. It was actually fully grown now!

*Phew* The old lady let loose a loud breath, a happy look on her face. With a twist of her wrist, a white jade box appeared in her hand. At the same time, her other hand waved towards the Gold Fur Nether Jade Grass, and the glowing plant floated up, performing a strange dance-somersault into the box. Even as the old lady closed the box, a faint glow could still be seen from within.

After doing that, only then did the old lady turn to look at Zhou Weiqing, and he was surprised to that this white haired old lady did not have any wrinkles, her skin smooth like a baby, with surprisingly beautiful features. One could imagine that she was once a top beauty when she was young.

“Little fellow, not bad at all, thank you for your Absolute Delay, or Little Bi’er might have not made it.”

Zhou Weiqing said respectfully: “I was just lucky enough to be there, it was a mere coincidence. Senior, can I ask you something, how did you manage to stimulate plants into growing quickly, especially such a top quality one like the Gold Fur Nether Jade Grass?”

A faint smile crossed the old lady’s face as she said: “Little Bi’er isn’t that top quality, but its growth speed is just too slow, and there is never enough to use. You have the Time Attribute, didn’t the other old fellows tell you how to control the growth of plants using that? As long as you do not overdo it like me earlier, with the Time Attribute, you usually will not fail.”

“Eh? What old fellows?” Zhou Weiqing asked in surprise.

The old lady examined him closely, saying: “You do not know who I am?”

Zhou Weiqing started, then said: “This is the first time I have seen Senior. This junior is Zhou Weiqing, may I know Senior’s name?”

The old lady gave a soft hmmm sound, then abruptly, she lifted her hands, grabbing out at Zhou Weiqing’s left hand.

It seemed like her hand moved extremely slowly, but neither Zhou Weiqing nor the closeby Lin TianAo could react in time to stop her. It was as if as soon as she lifted her hands, Zhou Weiqing’s hand was already in her palm.

Zhou Weiqing did not feel any restrictions or seals on his body, but when the old lady held hold of his wrist, he felt a faint energy flow through his wrist.

“Ahh?” The old lady let go, surprise in her eyes. “Little fellow, you really aren’t a disciple of one of those old fellows?”

Zhou Weiqing gave a abashed smile, saying: “Senior, I do not even know who you are talking about!”

Furrowing her brow, the old lady said: “Then how did you get on the Heavenly Jewel Island? I haven’t seen anyone with such a low cultivation level before on this Island, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a little fellow with three Jewels. A Five-Jeweled little fellow like the one beside you is more common.”

Zhou Weiqing blushed, thinking to himself. This low cultivation level is really embarrassing, anyone can look down upon it.

“Senior, I am a member of the Fei Li Battle Team, here to attend the Heavenly Jewel Tournament finals.” He had his own guess about the status of this old lady, and he naturally did not try to hide anything as he replied respectfully.

The old lady stared blankly at Zhou Weiqing, a strange, unsteady look on her face. The next moment, she actually burst out laughing, looking towards Zhou Weiqing with a strange, predatory look, like a wolf looking at a sheep.

Just as he was about to turn to leave, the old lady interrupted him quickly: “Wait a moment. It looks like you are a Consolidating Equipment Master right? What level are you?”

Zhou Weiqing replied: “I’m almost reaching the High Level Consolidating Equipment Master stage.” Indeed, as his cultivation level had raised to the Three-Jeweled stage, his Heavenly Energy, vitality and Spirit Energy had all improved, and with his creating capabilities of Consolidating Equipment Scrolls, he could definitely be at the level of High Level Consolidating Equipment Master.

The old lady continued asking: “Then, who is your teacher?”

Zhou Weiqing replied: “My teacher is Huyan Aobo.”

The old lady started, as if confused, before finally saying: “Huyan Aobo? Hmm… I’ve never heard of the name. Sigh… What am I thinking! How could a Consolidating Equipment Master not have a teacher? What a shame, what a shame.”

As she said that, something appeared in the old lady’s palm in a flash, and she moved her hand in front of his face, saying: “Little fellow, since you have helped me earlier, I will gift you with this. With this, you can get a discount in buying anything from the Consolidating Equipment Pavilion.”

The item was was a silver ring, inlaid with a few small red rubies forming two words. When Zhou Weiqing looked at it closely, he could see that the two words were Wei Yang.

The old lady smiled faintly, saying: “That is my name. If you need to order any custom Scrolls, you can come to the fourth level to look for me.”

Zhou Weiqing took the ring, wearing it on his finger, happiness in his heart. He knew that his earlier guess was accurate, and this old lady was likely a Zong Stage Consolidating Equipment Master or higher.

“Senior Wei Yang, I was just about to head to the fourth level to order a Consolidating Equipment Scroll Set for this friend of mine. I will have to trouble you then.” As he said that, he pointed towards Lin TianAo at his side.

Wei Yang glanced at Lin TianAo for a moment, then said: “What about yourself? Don’t you want to customize a Consolidating Equipment Scroll? Seeing as you helped me earlier, if it is for yourself, I will give it a half price discount.”

Zhou Weiqing hesitated a moment before finally saying: “I am currently not in need for that so I will not need to trouble Senior in that regard. In the future, when I do need it, I will definitely look for you. So… how about my friend…”

The reason why she says little Bi’er above, is 碧儿, part of its name 碧幽草 (bi you cao, jade, nether, grass) ↩

Direct translation of 拔苗助长, an idiom which describes a person, impatient for success, so acts as to destroy the very conditions upon which success depends. Basically, she is saying in trying to make the grass grow faster, she has failed and destroyed it. ↩

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32 thoughts on “HJC – Book 12, Chapter 94.1” - NO SPOILERS and NO CURSING

Why would he take her as his teacher? He has already memorised pratically everything from Huyan’s teachings and the only thing keeping him from advancing is his cultivation and his lack of experience which time will give him. He doesn’t need a teacher.

Yeah… I think he will become her disciple now, huyan is a mere grandmaster, this old grandma might be either a zong stage or god stage(probably zong) master, he would gain extremely much by her tutelage.